Police in Henrico County, Virginia visited a family’s home to impart the tragic news that their son had been killed in a homicide but then proceeded to shoot the family’s pet dog Tiger.

33-year-old Ricky Ellerbe was robbed for $15 dollars and shot to death just eight blocks from his house.
When police arrived at the family home to tell them Ellerbe’s body had been found near an alley, the Ellerbe family pitbull, Tiger, ran towards one of the officers from the backyard but was almost instantly shot dead.

“They had told me my brother was dead and I’d come out back to cry on the porch and Tiger must have heard them. He ran into the front yard and the officer shot him,” LaToya Ellerbe told the News & Advance.

Henrico Police refused to comment on the incident.

The incident follows a spate of similar occurrences where police escalate already fraught situations by killing dogs in what many charge are unnecessary shootings.

Last month, Hawthorne Police in California shot the dog of a man who was recording a police scene on his cell phone. As Leon Rosby was being arrested for “interference with officers,” his dog Max escaped from the car and ran over to the owner. Video shows the dog jumping up at a police officer – behavior which could hardly be described as an attack – but the officer shoots the dog dead as onlookers scream in horror.

The incident sparked outrage on the Internet and led to protests in the local area.

A more debatable case also occurred earlier this month in Bellingham, WA when officers from Bellingham Police Department shot and killed a dog named Pinky as they were questioning a suspect in a skate park.

Although the dog was well known and loved in the neighborhood, the suspect was accused of using it to intimidate out of towners and the video shows the pitbull attacking an officer before being shot.

Some have questioned why cops seem so eager to kill dogs, suggesting that the response must have its roots in police training.
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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.